Wash blinks and looks up at Chief. It's odd to have specific, explicit permission to be human. To come to someone that he hasn't known for years and still trusts enough to admit that he's not okay and ask for what he needs. To have someone offer it, no strings attached. It's freeing and terrifying all at once, and he's not sure what to do with that.
He's still processing when Chief follows it up, and he breathes a weak, helpless laugh, so short it almost stops before it starts. "Around here, I'm usually in medical when the dust settles. I don't get started until after they let me out." In this case, getting started trying to put people's lives back together, because the last thing they need is to end up like him.
Anything that might have been good humor fades, and he tugs at the blanket again. This is why he went looking for Chief in the first place - because he's exhausted, because he's done too much today, because he's seen his friends as wrecks of their usual selves, because he's worn himself out and left himself feeling small and weak and fragile-
But he has permission now, and Chief's arm is still up on the couch.
He scoots over, closing the gap between them before he can change his mind (because, despite everything, that's still a possibility), and after a moment, he leans against Chief's side. Chief isn't Maine - he's bigger and built differently and sane and still here - and that's going to take some getting used to, but for now...
For now, Wash can allow himself to feel small and fragile and weak, because right here and now, he also feels safe. That's a feeling that's been hard to come by over the past few years of his life.
A quiet "thank you" is all he can manage. Hopefully that's enough.
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He's still processing when Chief follows it up, and he breathes a weak, helpless laugh, so short it almost stops before it starts. "Around here, I'm usually in medical when the dust settles. I don't get started until after they let me out." In this case, getting started trying to put people's lives back together, because the last thing they need is to end up like him.
Anything that might have been good humor fades, and he tugs at the blanket again. This is why he went looking for Chief in the first place - because he's exhausted, because he's done too much today, because he's seen his friends as wrecks of their usual selves, because he's worn himself out and left himself feeling small and weak and fragile-
But he has permission now, and Chief's arm is still up on the couch.
He scoots over, closing the gap between them before he can change his mind (because, despite everything, that's still a possibility), and after a moment, he leans against Chief's side. Chief isn't Maine - he's bigger and built differently and sane and still here - and that's going to take some getting used to, but for now...
For now, Wash can allow himself to feel small and fragile and weak, because right here and now, he also feels safe. That's a feeling that's been hard to come by over the past few years of his life.
A quiet "thank you" is all he can manage. Hopefully that's enough.